Europe or Bust!: London, England

We finally made it to London on February 1st after a very long commute.  We flew into London Heathrow from Dublin and decided that the easiest and least expensive way to get from the airport to our Airbnb flat was on the London underground so we caught the Piccadilly line from Heathrow to Russell Square and made a 8 min. walk to the London Borough of Camden to Gray's Inn Road.  

Our host, Gareth (a very British name), was at his flat to meet us and show us around.  His two room flat with kitchen, one bathroom, and living room was quaint and inviting.  While we got settled in, Gareth made us delicious English tea and bought us biscuits (cookies in America).  After we settled in, we moseyed our way to a pub called, Calthorpe Arms a block from the flat for some dinner (Food pictures coming soon).  After dinner we planned our first real day in London.

We caught the London Tube at Heathrow to our Airbnb flat

Here is a picture of the tube

Here was our cozy bedroom in our flat! It was perfect for two or us!

Our awesome host Gareth made us tea and bought us biscuits while we got settled

He also made us both banana milkshakes when we got back from dinner

We had an early morning walking to the River Thames for our London Eye river cruise reservation.  On the way there I was busy snapping pictures of every little thing.  I took pictures of a million double-decker buses and telephone booths because to me these things are very "London"  

There were a lot of these Barclay bike rental stations throughout London.  It was a bit to cold to ride and traffic is a little too crazy in London for the helmet-less.

We tried to make it to Belgravia's Cabman Shelter for a Bacon Butty (Bacon sandwich) but we never made it...These "fast food" cafes around London had British Bacon Buttie's and I took a picture because the word buttie makes me laugh...still.

FISHEYE LENS FTW!!! 

Ground view of the London Eye

We bought a ticket package for admission onto the London Eye and for the London Eye river cruise.  The river cruise was deathly cold sitting on the top of the boat but worth it because we got to see everything on the River Thames...Big Ben, Parliament, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Tower of London etc.  

Here's a fisheye picture inside our London Eye pod on our way back down...A complete rotation of the wheel is 30 min. long...essentially a very slow ferris wheel!

Although, I'm afraid of heights I felt relatively safe close to Wela but that meant I followed him around the pod.

The Millenium bridge from the Tate Modern...This is the bridge the death eaters collapse on Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince

This is the alleyway to the Borough Market... There is a light show in here

Borough Market! I bought a sweet burlap bag and a cup of hot mulled wine (delicious...like hot spiced cider but wine) ...I'm a sucker for markets :)

I'm enjoying a nice warm cup of mulled wine on these sweet benches along the River Thames

Tower of London bridge at Sunset

Sunset on the River

Piccadilly Circus underground stop...On our way to see Les Miserables

Piccadilly Circus! Circus = Intersection of many streets...a mini times square

Les Miserables at the Queens theatre in London's West End!!!

Classic Palatial theatre of London...the amazing view from our seats!

Our seats in the Dress Circle along Stage right...We couldn't see part of the stage but we were so close you could see the spit coming out of the performers mouths :)

***Side note: Les Miserables was AMAZING!!! I would recommend it to everyone! Even though Ramin Karimloo wasn't playing Jean Valjean like he was supposed to :(

London's Chinatown right across from the Theatre

Our first day came to an excellent close and we were definitely exhausted from all that walking but it was so worth it...No pain, no gain!


Stay tuned for Day 2 and a London Food Edition post!


Cheerio!